Roof sprinkler



7, 1956 A. M. ANDREWS 2,757,965

ROOF SPRINKLER Filed Aug. 24, 1953 T9 5' IN VEN TOR.

5 ALVADORE M. ANDREWS ATTOF iNEYS United States Patent Office 2,757,965Patented Aug. 7, 1956 ROOF SPRINKLER Alvadore M. Andrews, Portland,Oreg. Application August 24, 1953, Serial No. 376,104 2 Claims. (31.299-104 The present invention relates to a roof sprinkler, and moreparticularly to a device for distributing or sprinkling water over aninclined surface such as a roof.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my co-pendingapplication, Serial No. 318,065, filed October 31, 1952. v

A large portion of the heat accumulating in one-story buildings, and inthe upper floor of multistory buildings, during the summer months, comesthrough a transfer of heat through the roof of the building. The summersun striking directly upon the roof surface frequently heats the surfaceto a temperature so great that the roof will be exceedinglyuncomfortable to touch. If no insulation is provided beneath the roof, aconsiderable amount of heat will be transferred through the roof to heatthe air beneath. Also, if the roof is proximate to the occupants in theroom, the radiation of the heat may be quite uncomfortable.

To cool the roof and reduce the heat transferred therethrough,sprinkling systems have frequently been installed to sprinkle water overthe roof. However, systems as provided heretofore have utilized bulkyand expensive equipment. Moreover, the water has not been distributedevenly by others, and in some cases it was not possible to regulate therate of water flow and distribution so that the roof would be completelycovered without at the same time sprinkling so much water that largeamounts would flow off of the edges of the roof.

It is a principal object of the present invention, therefore, to providea simple, inexpensive roof sprinkling system.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a simple, inexpensivedevice for distributing an evaporative film of water upon a roof surfacewhereby to absorb the heat of the roof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a roof sprinkling deviceadapted to be secured to a rooffor sprinkling or distributing waterevenly over the roof to cool the same.

A further object of the invention is to provide a roof sprinkling devicecomprising an elongate, perforated tube or hose, and means extendingtherefrom by means of which the tube may be secured in desired positionupon a inclined roof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparenthereinafter.

For a detailed description of the present invention, reference is madeto the following specification taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a sprinklingdevice in accordance with the invention mounted upon a gabled roof;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along line 2-2 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view showing another embodiment of the invention mountedupon the ridge of a roof or building;

Fig. 4 is a view showing still another arrangement for mountingsprinkling hoses along the ridge of a roof;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 55 of Fig.6; and

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of an arrangement of hoses suitable formounting as shown in Fig. 4.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a fragmentary portionof a peaked roof 10 having mounted along each of the opposite sides ofthe ridge 11, a roof sprinkling device 12 formed in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. Each of the sprinkling devices 12 issubstantially the same, and the description of one will sufiice foreach. A sprinkling device 12 comprises an elongate, rectangular sheet offlexible material, which is preferably substantially water-impervous butnot necessarily so as will become apparent, and may be a thin sheet of asuitable plastic such as vinyl chlorideaeetate. The sheet is formed toprovide a longitudinally extending tube or conduit 13 on one sidethereof by overfolding and underturning one of the longitudinal edgeportions 15 of the sheet and securing the edge portion 15 to asubstantially medial, longitudinally extending portion of the sheet.While the edge portion 15 may be sealed to the medial portion of thesheet in any suitable manner, it may be conveniently sealed thereto byplacing between the adjacent overlapping portions of the sheet a thread16 saturated with a bond effecting liquid and thereafter applyingpressure to cause the liquid to be expressed between the overlappingsurface portions so as to effect a liquid-tight bond therebetween. Sucha method of sealing sheets of plastic material together is morecompletely described in my Patent 2,500,053, issued March 7, 1950.Preferably the sheet of plastic is perforated to provide a plurality ofsmall apertures or openings 18 of substantially uniform diameter andspaced apart substantially uniformly along the entire length of thesheet prior to forming the sheet to provide a conduit. A convenientmethod of perforating the sheet and apparatus for so doing is shown anddescribed in my copending application, Serial No. 316,037, filed October21, 1952, now Patent No. 2,683,208.

The conduit 13 is adapted to be secured in position on the roof by meansof the remaining flap or tab portion 19 of the sheet which may besecured to the roof in any suitable manner as, for example, by gluing itthereto as indicated at 20 whereby the hose is positioned closelyadjacent the ridge 11 and parallel therewith.

After mounting the device 12 on a roof, it is connected to a suitablesource of water indicated at 23 to effect distribution of water over thesurface of the roof which will escape through the conduit openings 18.Preferably the water pressure is regulated so that the amount escapingfrom the hose is no greater, or not substantially greater, than theamount evaporated from the roof surface. This, of course, is desirableso as to eliminate wastage of the water since the excess Water wouldmerely drip off of the edge of the roof and have little cooling effect.Obviously, as mentioned before, it is not absolutely necessary that thedevice 12 be formed of water-impervious material. What is essential isthat the material forming the hose be of sufficient water tightness thatwater will be carried the entire length of the hose and water willescape therefrom uniformly all along the length of the hose.

Spraying or wetting the roof of a building with the device of theinvention will effect a reduction of many degrees in the interiortemperature of the building since the water absorbs a large quantity ofheat in its evaporation and the roof is maintained at a much lowertemperature than it would attain if it were not kept moist.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 3, an elongatesheet of plastic or other suitable material is formed to provide a pairof hoses 30, 31 along each of the longitudinal edges of the sheet. Asshown, the

device is adapted to be positioned on the roof with the hoses 30, 31 onthe opposite sides of the ridge and with the interconnecting web 32disposed over the ridge and supporting the hoses. The web 32 may besecured to the roof by tacking or gluing the same thereto.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs. 4, and 6 and whichembodiment comprises two pairs of tubes 40, 41 connected together inlaterally spacedapart, longitudinally parallel relation by a web or flap43 of flexible sheet material whereby the device may be aligned alongthe ridge of a roof 11 with the web 43 extending along the peak thereofand supporting the .pairs of tubes on each of the opposite sides of thepeak as shown in Fig. 4. The outermost tube 44- of each of the pairs isof water-impervious material and is not perforated, and is sealed ateach of its opposite ends as shown in Fig. 6. The innermost tube 45 ofeach pair is perforated along its length to spray water upwardly andoutwardly of the tube when arranged on a roof as shown in Fig. 4. Theinnermost tubes 45 are sealed at one end and are connected at theirother end to a suitable coupling device 46 for coupling the tubes to awater outlet. Preferably the tubes 44, 45 are formed as pairs having acommon wall as shown in Fig. 5, and which wall is perforated at variouspoints along its length as indicated at 47 so that water may flow fromthe innermost tube 45 to the outermost tube 44 of a pair. Since thereare no outlets in the outermost tube 44 through which the water mayescape when the device is mounted on the roof, the water flowing intothe tube 44 will remain therein to weight the tubes, thus providing ananchoring means to retain the device in position on the ridge of a roofand prevent it from being blown off even when it is not in use, so thatit is not necessary to otherwise secure the web 43 to the roof.

Having illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention,it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the inventionpermits of modification in arrangement and detail. I claim as myinvention all such modifications as come within the true spirit andscope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A roof sprinkling device comprising two pairs of elongate tube meansformed of water-impervious material, web means extending between saidpairs of tube means for securing the same in longitudinally parallel,laterally spaced-apart relation whereby said device may be mounted alongthe ridge of a gable roof with said web means extending over said ridgeand supporting said pairs of tube means one on each of the oppositesides of said ridge, coupling means on the innermost tubes of each ofsaid pairs for connecting the same to a source of water, each of saidinnermost tubes having a plurality of fine apertures through the wallthereof spaced to spray water laterally outwardly of the correspondingside of said device, the outermost tubes of each of said pairs beingsealed at each of their opposite ends, and means for providingcommunication between the innermost tube and outermost tube of each pairwhereby water will flow into said outermost tube from said innermosttube.

2. A sprinkling device comprising two pairs of elongate tube meansformed of water-impervious material, web means extending between saidpairs of tube means for securing the same in longitudinally parallel,laterally spaced-apart relation, coupling means on the innermost tubesof each of said pairs for connecting the same to a source of water, eachof said innermost tubes having a plurality of fine apertures through thewall thereof spaced to spray water laterally outwardly of thecorresponding side of said device, the outermost tubes of each of saidpairs being sealed at each of their opposite ends, and means forproviding communication between the innermost tube and outermost tube ofeach pair whereby water will flow into said outermost tube from saidinnermost tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS125,594 Mayall Apr. 19, 1872 431,203 Dithridge July 1, 1890 1,620,142Thompson Mar. 8, 1927 1,936,732 Renard NOV. 28, 1933 2,070,665 LepperFeb. 16, 1937 2,500,053 Andrews Mar. 7, 1950 2,566,833 Healy Sept. 4,1951 2,621,075 'Sedar Dec. 9, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 46,756 SwitzerlandMar. 12, 1909

